Kamera & Bild confirmed: Nikon D60 is gone, D300 is next?

"At our monthly update of rekpriserna on the market, we received news that Nikon D60 is sold out and that the D300 deleted.We called up Björn Nordgren at Nikon Nordic to get this confirmed.- Yes it is true.D60 is sold out.We will get a splash with the D300's and then it is also the end."

here is a better translation from a reader:

"At our monthly update of the recommended prices on the market, we received news that Nikon D60 is sold out and that the D300 is discontinued. We called Björn Nordgren at Nikon Nordic to get this confirmed.
- Yes it is true. D60 is sold out. We will get a bunch of D300’s but then it is sold out too."

If you have a better translation - please post it.

NR rating system: 99% (99% because the D300 situation/translation is not very clear to me, so I cannot go with 100%)

Interesting… if true. But don’t most manufacturers, Nikon included, historically release a replacement product before discontinuing a current one?

iamlucky13

I’m thinking that Nikon is trying to lean up by reducing production and stock of current models ahead of the release of a new model. Adorama, for example, still lists the D80, the D2X, and the D2Xs as being for sale (USA warranty, not refurbished).

And who knows, maybe they did this for prior camera releases, too.

Interestingly, Adorama also lists the D60 as out of stock, but their note suggests they expect to receive more.

There has definitely not been a D200 made for many years. Same for the D80. Old stock tends to move very slowly once a new model is out. Only a few dealers bother with it. The bigger dealers are more than happy to offload their stock to the specialist dealers.

There will probably be stocks of the D60 around for quite a while for those who really want to find one. But it is a mass market item and Nikon has a very tight hand on their inventory so I would not be surprised if they worked out exactly how many D60s they would sell before introducing the successor and built up a stockpile.

They have to launch the D60+ in time for Xmas and they are going to have to work out how many they expect to sell. So it would make sense to start on the D60+ run just as soon as they have a sufficient stock of D5000.

dan

Pah! Stop wasting your time with posts like this.
I don’t want Nikon news given to me hours or days before everywhere else on the site.
I want videos on fake Nikon items.

Haha, keep up the good work admin!

As a side, what do you think are the chances of seeing a D800 with video by the end of the year?

Nikkorian

Not so good. Video will go in the D4 at first, then into D800. There might be a D700x coming out though and there’s a small chance of movie mode to be included.

Jools33

There’s 0% chance the D4 will have video – just look at the video efforts in their current bodies – there are numerous problems that mean that it is totally not ready for the professional market yet – on top of that – there is also the issue that having most PJs (which is the target market for the D4) don’t want video – as many of the places they shoot at will not allow video – ie press conferences etc.

Nikkorian

Then again there you have a shift to personal movie: TV stations send their journalists with a personal video cam nowadays instead of providing a team with two people and heavy equipment, and newspaper journalists have to provide a clip for the website as well.

You are right though that D4 (or D5) movie mode has to better than in D90, but time has passed and engineers keep working, so at some point they’ll manage.

>As a side, what do you think are the chances of seeing a D800 with video by the end of the year?

If what my source said is true, it will be quite some time before video capabilities are available on the upper-end cams. Supposedly video facilities were built in the Thai plant, but not in Sendai. Whether or not they’re rectifying that, however, I cannot say.

dan

That’s a real shame. I would have thought they’d implement it as something to compete with the 5D MkII.

I think Fuji rumors should be associated with nikon rumors rather than with the “other” group as it shares the same lenses and accessories…

Having said that I went to my neighborhood camera shop and they were saying that the Fuji rep said that the new DSLR is developed on the D300 body but there are issues with Nikon blocking the project because its too good ! (probably just the rep playing the blame game)

Narna

Our Nikon rep said that Fuji are testing a new body and it should be available later this year. But I don’t trust what a rep says about another company’s product!

I can see fuji bringing out a new DSLR body, but have no speculation on what or where. Would have to be good to claw back some market though.

I saw the D60 w/ 18-55mm VR & 55-200mm VR for $699, in stock at Costco 2 weeks ago. What a deal!

Nettopp

I wouldn’t translate “skvätt med D300” with a “bunch of D300”, it refers to a small amount. If you almost empty a bottle, the last drops of fluid in the bottom can be refered to as a “skvätt”.

This is more consistent with the rest of the article, as they speculate that the stock of D60 and D300 is lower than it would usually be with the introduction of a new camera, due to the economical crisis.

I agree with Nettopp. It means that they’ll get a few / some D300’s, not a bunch of D300’s.

MB

Nikon stopped D60 production some tine ago, and they are stopping D300.
What we have now are leftovers, or already produced stock, of these two cameras.
It is now the best time to get D60 if you want one, it will never be more affordable.
Bare in mind that newer model will almost certainly be 50% more expensive.

JW

Is it the best time to get the d300 as well? Or are we likely to see significant price drops before it’s discontinued? I want to buy one when it’s cheap but not yet discontinued…or is that unlikely to happen..

Folks, after the apology published on Markt & Technik website, and Nikon’s need not to jeopardize their F3x sales, I am afraid, that there won’t be a D 400 at all (sorry for myself, I would like to have one), but a – let’scall it that way – D 800. D 800 would have FX sensor, but with lower resolution than F3x like 18MP. You will see I will be right. Sorry for you all DXers (including myself, since I am tired to carry all that heavy gear with me).

jsmyth

If that is the case then why did they bother releasing the 10-24mm and the 35mm f1.8

Are you saying that DX is being discontinued? I really hope not…

getanalogue

I don’t think that Nikon will discontinue DX, but it will be 100% amateur / entry level system. You can easily see their effort spent on quality glass for DX – poor. Sharpness is ok, distortion is strong and keeps people spending their time in front of their pc’s for correction, and build….no heavy duty stuff as required for D300 users: outdoor, wildlife, weather, travel photography – you need to have FX in the future, all rugged and pro style equipment, but still not comparable with my beloved F4 Bentley. We need to hire sherpas in the future to carry the load.

While there are very many great features about FX, for wildlife photography, losing the 1.5 crop factor is a major drawback! I doubt that DX will be relegated to “amateur / entry level” as you suggest. I expect pro level DX bodies for a long time to come!